After a day of fast-moving trade rumors, it looks like Doc Rivers will not be leaving Boston for the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Los Angeles Times’ Brad Turner reported that Rivers was informed that the Clippers have rejected the Celtics’ trade offer for the head coach. Turner also says that the Clippers are prepared to offer their job to Brian Shaw or Lionel Hollins instead.
According to Yahoo! Sports, the proposed deal was Clippers center DeAndre Jordan and two first-round picks to the Celtics for Kevin Garnett and the right to hire Rivers. Garnett reportedly was willing to waive his no-trade clause to join Rivers in LA. Boston reportedly wanted Eric Bledsoe in the trade along with Jordan, and that’s where the holdup occurred.
Both Turner and Yahoo!’s Adrian Wojnarowski say Clippers do not want to part with Eric Bledsoe, their backup point guard, who is desired by many teams. Should the Clippers fail to re-sign free agent Chris Paul, they would want Bledsoe to step in as their starter. They also likely would want to keep Bledsoe so they could have him to flip in another trade.
Earlier on Saturday, we passed along a report saying that Rivers, Garnett, and Paul Pierce could end up with the Clippers. The thinking was that if the Clippers got both Rivers and Garnett, Boston would decide not to bring back Pierce, who could then decide to sign with the Clips.
These trades would be complex and should not be counted out, but they appear unlikely to occur at this point. One thing we can prepare for is changes with the rosters for both teams — they each appear ready to make major moves.
